Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 sells 6.5 million units in first 24 hours

By Rick Marshall Published November 11, 2011

In what is probably a surprise to no one, Activision has announced that the first-day sales for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 have not only broken the record for a video game, but for any entertainment product ever released.

According to a press release issued by the company this morning, more than 6.5 million copies of Modern Warfare 3 were sold in the first 24 hours of the game’s release — a tally that put its one-day sales at over $400 million. This amounts to the most profitable first day of any game, movie, or other entertainment product in history.

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Of course, this is quickly becoming a habit for Activision, as the Call of Duty franchise previously set records with Modern Warfare 2 in 2009 ($310 million in its first day of release) and Call of Duty: Black Ops last year ($360 million).

“Other than Call of Duty, there has never been another entertainment franchise that has set opening day records three years in a row,” said Activision CEO Bobby Kotick in an official statement accompanying the sales figures. “Life-to-date sales for the Call of Duty franchise exceed worldwide theatrical box office for ‘Star Wars’ and ‘Lord of the Rings,’ two of the most successful entertainment franchises of all time.”

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Gaming

War is hell, but Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 makes it a carnival game

Zombies shambling in Black Ops 6.

There are two kinds of people in this world: those who play Call of Duty and those who don’t. For three glorious hours, I was finally part of the former. Then it all came crashing down in a hail of gunfire.

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Gaming

You might want to wait a bit to play Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 on Steam

A player runs in Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 multiplayer.

It's Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 launch day, which means potentially millions of players are hopping into the new single-player campaign, the updated multiplayer mode, and Zombies. While posts online about the performance of the game seem to be minimal, there have been reported issues on PC, specifically via Steam.

It's been a common story lately about players being mad at third-party launchers on Steam, and that remains the case for Black Ops 6. Call of Duty's is called Call of Duty HQ (COD HQ), and it's a hub for players to manage their game installs, whether they want to only download certain game modes or launch a specific game. It seems as if players can only switch between modes through the launcher and have to go through multiple menus to boot the game up. In the worst cases, they can't launch the game at all.

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3 new Xbox Game Pass games to play this weekend (October 25-27)

A player holds a dead player as a body shield in Call of Duty: Black Ops 6.

It's Call of Duty week on Xbox Game Pass. Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 launched today, and from day one, it's a part of Game Pass Ultimate's game catalog. It's one of the big payoffs of Microsoft's $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard. Depending on how it performs, it may be one of the most important games to ever come to the subscription service. On top of that, other Call of Duty games finally got Xbox Cloud Gaming support, which required collaboration with Ubisoft because of certain concessions made during the Activision Blizzard acquisition process. If you're an Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscriber wondering what you should play this weekend, the obvious answer is Call of Duty.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 - Global Launch Gameplay Trailer

After four years, the Call of Duty: Black Ops series has made its grand return. It brings the series' story to the 1990s with a spy-movie-like campaign that sees players investigate a secret, nefarious organization that has infiltrated the American government. While the campaign alone is reason enough to check out the new Call of Duty on Xbox Game Pass, Black Ops 6 also features meaty multiplayer and Zombies modes. Multiplayer is as exhilarating as ever, with an emphasis being placed on an "omnimovement" system that allows players to dive, roll, and dodge enemies with a lot more freedom than they could before. Meanwhile, Zombies mode finds a solid balance between old and new mechanics. Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 is available via PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and Xbox Cloud Gaming with a Game Pass Ultimate subscription. It's also on PS4 and PS5.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III
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Call of Duty: Warzone
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